4 reasons you should update your website content

Your website is one of your most important marketing tools, no matter what business you are in. It is out there working for your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Getting your name out there, advertising your services and selling your products.

That is why it is so important to have a website that functions the best it can, and one that stays relevant and up-to-date.

One way of ensuring your website is always fresh and relevant is by updating the content on a regular basis. There are many reasons why you need to take the time to do this.

Here are the top four:

Search engines

It’s important for your business that your website can be found via search engines. A way to improve your chances of being found is by having your content refreshed often.

When you update your website, the search engines will take notice and will revise your site ranking. If you leave your website alone, the search engines will assume it is dormant and will start skipping your site in searches.

Fresh content won’t necessarily guarantee how high you will rank, but it will certainly help your chances of being found. However, it is imperative to remember that quality is far more important than quantity when it comes to website content. Pages and articles that are stuffed so full of keywords that they don’t make sense won’t be treated kindly by the big search engines.

More chance for keywords

Although stuffing your pages with keywords will lead to your site being penalised, it is still important that you use them – it just has to be done properly.  Search engines will take note when you use certain words that link to the products and services you offer. The more content you are uploading the more chance you will get to use relevant keywords. The fresh content means the search engines will crawl your site more often, and the keywords will let them see that your site is highly relevant to the searches being made.

Be authentic when writing any content for your website. Write with the reader in mind, not based on keywords, and you’ll keep everyone (including engines) happy.

Helping your audience

Moving on from search engines, another very important reason for keeping your content fresh is for your audience. People visit websites for a reason; it might be to find information or it might be to purchase a product or service. If the content on your website is out of date the reader is not going to feel confident that the information they are receiving is relevant.

If you sell directly from your website, but your blog or homepage content is a few years old, your potential customer is not likely to feel reassured about spending money with your business. They may just assume there is no longer someone sitting at the other end of the website.

If you keep your site full of interesting articles you will capture the interest of your audience while also placing yourself as an authority on the subject. If you write articles that are relevant, interesting and helpful, the readers will become more trusting of your brand and you will be top of mind next time they are looking for services or products within your field.

Become the authority

Knowledge is power … so a website full of intelligent information and material must be pretty powerful right? Show your authoritative position in the industry by having pages and pages of good quality information that you can share easily on social media, and that visitors to your site can immerse themselves in. If your audience ends up spending a lot of time clicking around your site and going through all of the information on offer, even better, as search engines also take notice of how long people spend on your site.

The more blogs, articles and pages you have on your website, the more chance you are giving your site to appear in Google searches. If your company name is consistently showing up in search feeds, it will back up your position of authority in the industry. If you are already one of the top players, then it will be expected by your audience that they will see your business appear at least occasionally on Google. If you never do, they may begin to doubt whether you really are one of the best businesses to work with.

Keeping your website content fresh, updated and relevant doesn’t have to be as hard as it sounds. Although it is best to have good quality articles that will help your potential customers find information, you can also keep your website fresh simply by updating your FAQ’s, adding a tip or call to action occasionally or changing your welcome message on the front page every few months.